What's happened. Morality

Morality(from lat. moralis – moral) – 1) a special type of regulation of people’s behavior and relationships between them based on adherence to certain norms of communication and interaction; 2) a set of norms approved by public opinion that determine the relationships of people, their responsibilities to each other and to society.

17.1.2. The main contradiction of morality. A person is capable of breaking any moral rules. The gap between proper and actual behavior is the main contradiction of morality.

17.1.3. How is morality different from morality?? (three points of view).

1) Morality = morality.

2) Morality is the values and norms of consciousness, and morality is the implementation of these norms in life and the practical behavior of people.

Morality is the degree to which an individual has assimilated moral values and their practical adherence to Everyday life, the level of real moral behavior of people.

3) Morality refers to the behavior of an individual – morality of the individual, and morality refers to the behavior of groups of people - public morals.

17.1.4.Ethics (Greek ethike, from ethos - custom, character, character) is a philosophical science that studies morality.

The term was introduced by Aristotle. The problem of good and evil has been and remains central to ethics.

17.2 . The structure of morality: ideals, values, categories, moral standards.

17.2.1. Moral values.

Moral values (moral principles)– 1) extremely broad requirements for individual behavior, supported by the opinion of a social group or society as a whole (humanism, collectivism, individualism); 2) the starting points on the basis of which all morality, all moral behavior of a person is built.

The ancient sages considered prudence, benevolence, courage, and justice to be the main virtues. In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the highest moral values are associated with faith in God and zealous reverence for him. Honesty, loyalty, respect for elders, hard work, and patriotism are revered as moral values among all nations. These values, presented in their impeccable, absolutely complete and perfect expression, act as ethical ideals.

Moral (ethical) ideal(French ideal – relating to an idea) – 1) the idea of moral perfection; 2) the highest moral example.

1)good(everything that is moral, morally proper) and evil;

2)duty(personal responsible adherence to moral values); conscience(the ability of an individual to realize his duty to people);

3)honor And dignity personality (the presence of nobility and readiness for selflessness);

4)happiness.

What such good And evil?

1) Hobbes: “Good and evil are names denoting our dispositions and aversions, which differ according to the differences of character, habits and way of thinking of people.”

2) Nietzsche argued that Jesus' call to love your enemies demonstrates that Christian morality is for the weak and cowardly, not the strong and brave. Jesus is the one separated from real life idealist.

4) The trick of the world mind ( Hegel).

“... so who are you, finally?

I am part of that force that is eternal

wants evil and always does good...”

(Goethe's Faust).

What is happiness?

Happiness– feeling and state of complete, highest satisfaction; success, luck.

There are five levels of happiness: 1) joy from the very fact of life; 2) material well-being; 3) the joy of communication; 4) creativity; 5) make others happy.

Eudaimonism(from Greek. eudaimonia - bliss) - a direction in ethics that considers happiness, bliss to be the highest goal of human life; one of the basic principles of ancient Greek ethics, closely related to the Socratic idea inner freedom personality, its independence from the outside world.

17.2.2. Moral standards, regulations.

Moral standards, regulations– 1) forms of moral requirements that determine people’s behavior in various situations; 2) private rules, which in imperative form prescribe a generally binding order of behavior.

Moral norms are rules of behavior oriented towards moral values.

Every culture has a system of generally accepted moral regulations, which, by tradition, are considered mandatory for everyone. Such regulations are moral norms.

The Old Testament lists 10 such norms - “the commandments of God”, written on the tablets that were given by God to the prophet Moses when he climbed Mount Sinai: 1) “Thou shalt not kill,” 2) “Thou shalt not steal,” 3) “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” " and etc.

The norms of truly Christian behavior are the 7 commandments that Jesus Christ indicated in the Sermon on the Mount: 1) “Do not resist evil”; 2) “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you”; 3) “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who use you and persecute you,” etc.

« Golden Rule of Morality" - a fundamental moral requirement: "(don't) act towards others as you (wouldn't) want them to act towards you." The term “golden rule of morality” arose at the end of the 18th century. The first mentions of Z.p.n. belong to ser. I millennium BC This rule is found in the Mahabharata, in the sayings of Buddha. Confucius, when asked by a student whether one could be guided throughout one’s life by one word, replied: “This word is reciprocity. Don’t do to others what you don’t want for yourself.”

17.2.3. Values and norms.

Values are what justify and give meaning to norms. Human life is valuable, and its protection is the norm. A child is a social value, the responsibility of parents to take care of him in every possible way is a social norm.

In society, some values may conflict with others, although both are equally recognized as inalienable norms of behavior. Not only norms of the same type, but also of different types, for example, religious and patriotic, come into conflict: a believer who sacredly observes the norm “thou shalt not kill” is asked to go to the front and kill enemies.

Different cultures may give preference to different values (heroism on the battlefield, material enrichment, asceticism).

17.3 . Specifics of morality.

17.3.1. Inclusiveness(regulates human activity and behavior in all spheres of public life - in everyday life, work, politics, science and art, in personal family, intra-group and even international relations);

17.3.2. Autonomous regulation(moral behavior depends entirely on the will of the subjects themselves, and not on special social institutions, for example, the court, the church);

17.3.3. The finality of moral values and the imperativeness of moral regulations.

The principles of morality are valuable in themselves. The purpose for which we follow moral principles is to follow them. Following moral principles is an end in itself, that is, the highest, final goal” and there are no other goals that we would like to achieve by following them.

Imperative(from lat. imperativus - imperative) - unconditional requirement, command, obligation. Kant introduced into ethics the concept of the categorical imperative - an unconditionally universally binding formal rule of behavior for all people. Categorical imperative requires always acting in accordance with a principle that at any time could become a universal moral law, and treating every person as an end, and not as a means.

17.4 . Functions of morality.

1) Regulatory(regulates human activities in various social spheres).

2) Motivational function(moral principles motivate human behavior, that is, they act as reasons and motivations that make an individual want to do something or, conversely, not to do something).

3) Constitutive(from constitutus - established, established) function.

The principles of morality are the highest, dominating over all other forms of regulation of human behavior.

4) Coordination function.

This function follows from the previous one. It lies in the fact that morality, due to the priority of its principles, ensures the unity and consistency of the interaction of people in a wide variety of circumstances. Even without knowing either the character of a person, or his habits, skills, abilities, you can determine in advance what should and should not be expected from him.

17.5 . Origin of morality.

17.5.1. Religious view.

3500 years ago, the god Yahweh burned moral commandments onto the tablets of the prophet Moses.

2000 years ago Jesus Christ proclaimed them on Mount Tabor (Sermon on the Mount).

17.5.2. Cosmological explanation.

The cosmological explanation dates back to ancient times: the teaching of Heraclitus on morality as the law of a single logos, the Pythagoreans’ ideas about heavenly harmony, Confucius’s theory of the heavenly world, etc.

According to Confucius, heaven monitors justice on earth and guards social inequality.

Moral qualities consist of 5 interconnected principles, or constancies: “ren” - humanity, love for mankind; “Xin” - sincerity, directness, trust; “and” – duty, justice; “li” – ritual, etiquette; “zhi” – mind, knowledge.

The basis of philanthropy is “zhen” - “respect for parents and respect for elder brothers”, “reciprocity” or “caring for people” - the main commandment of Confucianism. “Do not do to others what you do not wish for yourself.”

17.5.3. Biological explanation.

Morality in human society is a type of natural (general biological morality in the animal world). This is a system of prohibitions that serve the survival of the species. For example, in the struggle for territory, poisonous snakes push each other, but not only never bite each other, but do not even bare their poisonous teeth. In other observations of animals, prohibitions on attacking females, other people's cubs, and an opponent who had taken a “submissive pose” were discovered.

Peter Kropotkin considered the principle of sociability or the “law of mutual assistance” in the animal world as the initial beginning of the emergence of such moral norms as a sense of duty, compassion, respect for fellow tribesmen and even self-sacrifice. “Nature can... be called the first teacher of ethics, the moral principle for man,” “the concepts of “virtue” and “vice” are zoological concepts...”.

Kropotkin Peter (1842-1921) – Russian revolutionary, one of the theorists of anarchism, geographer.

17.5.4. Anthropological explanation.

1)Utilitarianism(from Latin utilitas - benefit, benefit) - 1) the principle of assessing all phenomena only from the point of view of their usefulness, the ability to serve as a means to achieve any goal; 2) based Bentham This is a philosophical movement that considers benefit to be the basis of morality and the criterion of human actions.

Bentham Jeremiah (1748 - 1832) - English philosopher and lawyer, founder of utilitarianism and ideological liberalism.

“New people” in Chernyshevsky’s novel “What is to be done?” realize that their happiness is inextricably linked to social well-being.

Luzhin’s theory of “reasonable egoism” (Dostoevsky’s parody of the ideas of Bentham, Chernyshevsky and the utopian socialists), according to Raskolnikov, is fraught with the following: “But bring to consequences what you preached just now, and it will turn out that people can be slaughtered...”.

2) In “Genealogy of Morals” Nietzsche(1844 – 1900) evaluates Christian morality as a form of power of the weak over the strong. This morality was formed in the minds of slaves who were jealous of the powerful and dreamed of revenge. Being weak and cowardly, they hoped for an intercessor-messiah who, at least in the next world, would restore justice and when the humiliated and insulted on this earth would be able to enjoy the suffering of their strong offenders. Gradually the Christian morality of the slaves takes possession of the masters.

17.5.5. Socio-historical (sociological) explanation.

Morality arises during the period of decomposition of the primitive community in the process of social differentiation and the formation of the first state institutions.

According to another point of view, morality arises in the depths of the primitive community.

The whole point is whether we understand by morality in general any norms that regulate relations between people (and such norms, indeed, are formed simultaneously with the formation of man and the transition of man from a state of savagery to barbarism) or special norms, the action of which is based on individual and independent choice (such methods of regulating behavior are formed during the period of decomposition of the tribal community, during the transition from barbarism to civilization).

Taboo (Polynesian.) - in a primitive society, a system of prohibitions on performing certain actions (using any objects, pronouncing words, etc.), violation of which is punishable by supernatural forces.

17.5.6. Modern ethics:

1) the period of primitive society (moral regulation is combined with other forms of regulation - utilitarian-practical, religious-ritual, etc.);

2) group morality as a system of prohibitions (taboos) in tribal society;

3) at the third stage, internal individual moral values appear, which determined the beginning of civilization.

17.6 . Stages of formation of a person’s moral culture.

Moral culture of the individual is the degree to which an individual perceives the moral consciousness and culture of society, an indicator of how deeply the requirements of morality are embodied in a person’s actions.

1) At the first stage, the child develops elementary morality. It is based on obedience and imitation. The child copies the behavior of adults and follows their instructions and requirements. Regulation of behavior comes from the outside.

2) The second stage is conventional morality. They develop their own ideas about “what is good and what is bad.” Comparing oneself with others and making an independent moral assessment of both one’s own and others’ actions plays an important role. A person is focused on the public opinion of others.

3) At the third stage, autonomous morality is formed. The individual replaces public opinion with his own judgment about the ethical or unethical nature of his actions. Autonomous morality is the moral self-regulation of one's behavior.

The main motive for moral behavior here is conscience. If shame is a feeling directed outward, expressing a person’s responsibility to other people, then conscience is directed inward to the individual and is an expression of his responsibility to himself.

People put into the concept of morality the ordinary idea of good and evil. In reality, it all comes down to the two above-mentioned categories and the ability to distinguish between them in each individual situation. The range of moral standards is much wider than it seems at first glance.

Definition and Characteristics

Morality is the socially accepted ideas about good and evil, about what is right and what is wrong. The ability to distinguish good from bad is manifested in the actions and thoughts of both individuals in particular and human associations in general. Morality is a way of self-organization of society with its inherent controlling aspects.

Moral standards have their own distinctive features:

Extension to all members of society, regardless of their position.
Freedom of choice in following or not following moral standards, although a person’s decision is significantly influenced by his conscience, public opinion and belief in the existence of karma and other personal prejudices.
Total penetration into all spheres of people’s lives, be it economic or social, including their range of interests and activities: creativity, education or business.

Concepts of the emergence of morality

A separate branch of philosophy, ethics, studies the essence of morality and its influence on the consciousness and actions of people. Answering the question about the origin and development of human morality, scientists divided into three main groups, each of which tends to a certain point of view:

Morality is given to people by God

Divine law (which has the highest, primary significance for the foundations of morality) consists of three steps:

the eternal law, which is hidden in the divine mind, implies that without faith in God there will be no morality;
the natural law of morality, the meaning of which is that human nature, the soul created by the creator, constantly strives to merge with him;
positive human law, the lowest level of the three, is a community of legal and moral norms that are accepted in society.

Ethical standards are inherent in people from the very beginning

Proponents of this naturalistic concept, relying on the scientific works of Charles Darwin and P. Kropotkin, expressed the idea of the similarity of the psychology of consciousness and behavior of primitive people and animals. In ancient times, a person’s first place was the clan with all the customs and rules established in it, taboos and prejudices, habits and interests that were mandatory for the majority, which implied the merging of individual representatives into a single whole. From here, adherents of this idea believe, ethics arose and began to develop; from this identification of oneself with others, the concept of justice, and later - morality, appeared.

The emergence and improvement of morality occurred only with the development of society

Representatives of the sociological point of view believe that the answer to the question of the emergence of morality should not be sought in human essence. The primary source here is the historical and social conditions for the development of society, as well as its needs, the satisfaction of which is expressed in the desire to organize the optimal coexistence of people with each other in a more profitable and convenient way for oneself (society).

Norms and principles of morality

Of all the variety of moral norms, it is customary to highlight only seven, which are becoming the most widespread and relevant in the modern world (their influence can also be traced in religious teachings):

Sanity, or prudence, that is, the ability of an individual to think prudently, without succumbing to emotions and momentary impulses.
Asceticism, or abstinence, extends not only to sexual relations between people, but also to restrictions on food, entertainment and other pleasures, because an excess of material values distracts from the improvement of spiritual values.
Justice, or impartiality, manifested in the assessment of other people, including respect for them, their needs and interests. For all actions that a person has committed in relation to others, at a certain time there should be a commensurate response: retribution or reward.
Stubbornness, or steadfastness, means the ability to overcome difficulties and learn from them. It can be shared with others, helping to move forward, despite the obstacles that arise along the path of life.
Hard work, or perseverance, is a quality that helps a person realize himself in any business related not only to personal gain, but also to public benefit. This moral principle has been valued since the very beginning of humanity and is of great importance in society to this day.
Humility, or submission, expresses a person’s ability to stop in time, before he has time to mess things up.
Politeness, or delicacy, is the basis of diplomacy, constructive relationships and profitable deals.

In addition to the above-mentioned moral standards, there are moral principles that help determine common, similar forms of interaction between people in society. These are the behavioral criteria:

humanism - the highest value is the person, his dignity and self-worth;
collectivism - the conscious desire of the individual to contribute with all his might to the common good;
altruism - willingness to help others free of charge and selflessly;
mercy - a manifestation of good nature, goodwill, compassion and philanthropy;
voluntary renunciation of extreme individualism and manifestations of selfishness;
the principle of the golden mean - a sense of proportion in everything: in deeds, actions, emotions;
the principle of talion, or “an eye for an eye” - the need to compensate losses to one individual at the expense of another, if the loss of the first was due to the fault of the second. At the same time, it is necessary to tune in to the search for positive and constructive methods of exiting crisis or conflict situations.

A moral norm obliges a person to perform certain actions or prescribes how he should behave in similar situations; a moral principle shows the general direction of effort to be made during an activity.

Purpose of morality

To understand how important the importance of morality and its functions is in human life, it is necessary to consider the main ones:

Regulatory function

Legislative acts are a way of regulating relations between people and their behavior, which is fixed at the official, that is, formal level. The main difference between the regulatory function of morality is that it does not require any documents, since the adoption of moral norms and principles is a voluntary desire of a person; they regulate his actions, becoming part of his personal views, principles and beliefs.

Evaluation function

It consists in the perception of one’s own and others’ actions, that is, it is a moral assessment of reality from the point of view of its comprehension based on humanistic potential.

Educational function

Thanks to moral norms, moral principles, as well as rules of behavior that educate a person in society, certain social ideals are formed and a person’s internal desire is developed to ensure a proportional combination of individual and public interests so that the efforts made in achieving set goals do not cause harm to others.

Control function

Unspoken control by others over an individual’s behavior; As a backlash to certain actions, both positive and negative sanctions can be imposed.

Integrating function

It exists to maintain a harmonious state within a person, since everyone analyzes their actions and actions, including from a moral point of view.

The importance of morality in human society

Morality is included in absolutely all areas of human life, while it itself is not an organized sphere of activity. Morality cannot be institutionalized or controlled in any way, but at the same time it is comprehensive. Ethical requirements are expressed in the form of an imperative, as a command to act in a certain way out of a sense of moral duty to other people.

Man is a biosocial being, therefore the presence of society is necessary for his normal life. Each of us has a need to be close to other representatives of the species Homo sapiens. Only with the help of morality, which manifests itself through rules and requirements, as well as the self-awareness of an individual and any community as a whole, is the collective expression of will expressed to harmonize individual and group interests.

In society there is a commonality of three elements of the structure of morality:

moral activity;
moral consciousness;
moral relations.

Morality is very important both for the life of an individual and for the normal functioning of society as a whole, because it acts as a natural regulator of relationships, a kind of internal censor to which we turn when we do not know whether we are doing the right thing.

Morality(or morality) is the system of norms, ideals, principles accepted in society and its expression in the real lives of people.

Morality is studied by a special philosophical science - ethics.

Morality in general manifests itself in understanding the opposition of good and evil. Good is understood as the most important personal and social value and correlates with a person’s desire to maintain the unity of interpersonal connections and achieve moral perfection. Goodness is the desire for harmonious integrity both in relationships between people and in the inner world of the individual. If good is creative, then evil- this is everything that destroys interpersonal connections and decomposes a person’s inner world.

All norms, ideals, and moral prescriptions have as their goal the maintenance of good and the distraction of man from evil. When a person realizes the requirements of maintaining goodness as his personal task, we can say that he is aware of his duty - obligations to society. The fulfillment of duty is controlled externally by public opinion and internally by conscience. Thus, conscience there is a personal awareness of one's duty.

A person is free in moral activity - he is free to choose or not to choose the path of following the requirements of duty. This freedom of man, his ability to choose between good and evil is called moral choice. In practice, moral choice is not an easy task: it is often very difficult to make a choice between duty and personal inclinations (for example, donating money to an orphanage). The choice becomes even more difficult if different types duties contradict each other (for example, a doctor must save the patient’s life and relieve him of pain; sometimes both are incompatible). A person is responsible to society and to himself (his conscience) for the consequences of his moral choice.

Summarizing these features of morality, we can highlight the following functions:

evaluative - consideration of actions in terms of good and evil
(as good, bad, moral or immoral);
regulatory— establishment of norms, principles, rules of conduct;
controlling - control over the implementation of norms based on public condemnation and/or the conscience of the person himself;
integrating - maintaining the unity of humanity and the integrity of the spiritual world of man;
educational- formation of virtues and abilities of correct and informed moral choice.

An important difference between ethics and other sciences follows from the definition of morality and its functions. If any science is interested in what There is in reality, then ethics is that there should be. Most scientific reasoning describes the facts(for example, “Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius”), and ethics prescribes standards or evaluates actions(for example, “You must keep your promise” or “Betrayal is evil”).

Specifics of moral standards

Moral standards are different from customs and.

Customs - This is a historically established stereotype of mass behavior in a specific situation. Customs differ from moral norms:

following custom presupposes unquestioning and literal submission to its requirements, while moral norms presuppose meaningful and free person's choice;
customs are different for different nations, eras, social groups, while morality is universal - it sets general norms for all humanity;
the fulfillment of customs is often based on habit and fear of the disapproval of others, and morality is based on feeling debt and supported by feeling shame and remorse conscience.

The role of morality in human life and society

Thanks to and subject to moral assessment all aspects of social life - economic, political, spiritual, etc., as well as to provide moral justification for economic, political, religious, scientific, aesthetic and other goals, morality is included in all spheres of public life.

In life there are norms and rules of behavior that require a person to serve society. Their emergence and existence is dictated by the objective necessity of the joint, collective life of people. Thus, we can say that the very way of human existence necessarily generates people's need for each other.

Morality operates in society as a combination of three structural elements: moral activity, moral relations And moral consciousness.

Before revealing the main functions of morality, let us emphasize a number of features of moral actions in society. It should be noted that moral consciousness expresses a certain stereotype, pattern, algorithm of human behavior, recognized by society as optimal at a given historical moment. The existence of morality can be interpreted as society's recognition of the simple fact that the life and interests of the individual are guaranteed only if the strong unity of society as a whole is ensured. Thus, morality can be considered a manifestation of the collective will of people, which, through a system of requirements, assessments, and rules, tries to reconcile the interests of individuals with each other and with the interests of society as a whole.

Unlike other manifestations ( , ) morality is not a sphere of organized activity. Simply put, there are no institutions in society that would ensure the functioning and development of morality. And that is why, probably, it is impossible to manage the development of morality in the usual sense of the word (as to manage science, religion, etc.). If we invest certain funds in the development of science and art, then after some time we have the right to expect tangible results; in the case of morality this is impossible. Morality is comprehensive and at the same time elusive.

Moral requirements and assessments penetrate into all spheres of human life and activity.

Most moral demands appeal not to external expediency (do this and you will achieve success or happiness), but to moral duty (do this because your duty requires it), i.e., it has the form of an imperative - a direct and unconditional command . People have long been convinced that strict adherence to moral rules does not always lead to success in life, nevertheless, morality continues to insist on strict compliance with its requirements. This phenomenon can be explained in only one way: only on the scale of the entire society, in the aggregate, the fulfillment of one or another moral injunction acquires its full meaning and meets some social need.

Functions of morality

Let's consider the social role of morality, i.e. its main functions:

regulatory;
evaluative;
educational.

Regulatory function

One of the main functions of morality is regulatory Morality acts primarily as a way of regulating the behavior of people in society and self-regulation of individual behavior. As society developed, it invented many other ways to regulate social relations: legal, administrative, technical, etc. However, the moral mode of regulation continues to remain unique. Firstly, because it does not require organizational reinforcement in the form of various institutions, punitive bodies, etc. Secondly, because moral regulation is carried out mainly through the assimilation by individuals of the relevant norms and principles of behavior in society. In other words, the effectiveness of moral demands is determined by the extent to which they have become the internal conviction of an individual, an integral part of his spiritual world, a mechanism for motivating his command.

Evaluation function

Another function of morality is evaluative. Morality considers the world, phenomena and processes from the point of view of their humanistic potential- the extent to which they contribute to the unification of people and their development. Accordingly, it classifies everything as positive or negative, good or evil. A morally evaluative attitude towards reality is its comprehension in the concepts of good and evil, as well as other concepts adjacent to them or derived from them (“justice” and “injustice”, “honor” and “dishonor”, “nobility” and “baseness” and etc.). Moreover, the specific form of expression of moral assessment can be different: praise, agreement, blame, criticism, expressed in value judgments; showing approval or disapproval. A moral assessment of reality puts a person in an active, active relationship to it. By assessing the world, we are already changing something in it, namely, we are changing our attitude towards the world, our position.

Educational function

In the life of society, morality performs the most important task of personality formation and is an effective means. By concentrating the moral experience of humanity, morality makes it the property of every new generation of people. This is her educational function. Morality permeates all types of education insofar as it gives them the correct social orientation through moral ideals and goals, which ensures a harmonious combination of personal and social interests. Morality considers social connections as connections between people, each of which has intrinsic value. It focuses on actions that, while expressing the will of a given individual, do not at the same time trample on the will of other people. Morality teaches us to do every thing in such a way that it does not hurt other people.

And what is strictly prohibited. These rules are not necessarily legally binding. Those who violate them are not always punished by the state and its structures, but may become an outcast in society. In these cases, they say that the person has violated the moral principles accepted in his environment. A striking discrepancy between laws and moral principles is duels, with the help of which the nobility in the past resolved many disputes. Such fights were prohibited by law in many countries, but refusal to duel in the eyes of this class was often an offense much more serious than breaking the law.

The concept of morality was formed in Ancient Greece. Socrates called the science of man morality, as opposed to physics, which dealt with natural phenomena. This is part of philosophy that tries to answer the question about the true purpose of man. This has been tried again. According to the definition of Epicureans and hedonists, the true purpose of human existence is happiness. The Stoics developed their own concept and defined this goal as virtue. Their position was reflected in the views of philosophers of later eras - for example, Kant. The position of his “philosophy of duty” is based on the fact that a person cannot simply be happy, he must earn this happiness.

There are ideal and real moralities, and the second does not always coincide with the first. For example, the basis of Christian morality is the Ten Commandments. Ideally, every Christian should follow them. However, numerous wars, including religious ones, were a clear violation of the prohibition to kill. Each warring country also had other moral standards that were more consistent with the needs of society in a particular era. It was they, in combination with the commandments, that constituted real morality. Modern philosophers view morality as a way to preserve a particular society. Its task is to reduce conflict. It is primarily considered as a theory of communication.

The moral principles of each individual person are formed in the process of education. The child learns them primarily from his parents and other people around him. In some cases, the assimilation of moral norms occurs in the process of adaptation of a person with already established views to another society. Migrants, for example, constantly face this problem.

Along with public morality, there is also individual morality. Each person, performing one or another action, finds himself in a situation of choice. It is influenced by a variety of factors. Submission to moral standards can be purely external, when a person performs some action only because it is accepted in his environment and his behavior will arouse sympathy among others. Adam Smith defined this kind of morality as the morality of feeling. But the motivation can also be internal, when a good deed evokes in the person who performed it a feeling of harmony with himself. This is one of the principles of the morality of inspiration. According to Bergson, an action must be dictated by a person's own nature.

In literary criticism, morality is often understood as the conclusion that follows from the description. For example, a moral exists in a fable, and sometimes even in a fairy tale, when in the final lines the author explains in plain text what he wanted to say with his work.

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Sources:

New Philosophical Encyclopedia

The debate about the relationship between morality and morality among philosophers has been going on for a very long time. For some researchers these concepts are identical, for others they are fundamentally different. At the same time, the terms are close to each other and represent a unity of opposites.

Concept of morality and ethics

Morality is a system of values established in a particular society. Morality is the obligatory observance of universal social principles by an individual. Morality is an analogue of law - it allows or prohibits certain actions. Morality is determined by a specific society; it is established based on the characteristics of this society: nationality, religiosity, etc.

For example, those actions that are permitted in Western countries (USA, UK) will be prohibited in the countries of the Middle East. While Western societies do not set strict standards for women's clothing, Eastern societies do, and it would be considered offensive for a woman to appear bareheaded in Yemen.

In addition, morality meets the interests of a specific group, for example, corporate morality. Morality in this case determines the behavior model of a corporate employee, shaping his activities in order to increase the organization's profits. Unlike law, morality is oral in nature and often moral norms are not enshrined in writing.

Moral categories include philosophical concepts such as goodness, honesty, and politeness. Moral categories are universal and inherent in almost all societies. A person who lives in accordance with these categories is considered moral.

The relationship between morality and ethics

Morality are philosophical categories that are close in meaning, and debates about the relationship between these concepts have been going on for a very long time. I. Kant believed that morality is a person’s personal beliefs, and morality is the implementation of these beliefs. He is contradicted by Hegel, who believed that moral principles are the product of man’s inventions about the essence of good and evil. Hegel perceived morality as a product of social consciousness that dominates the individual. According to Hegel, morality can exist in any society, while morality appears in the process of human development.

At the same time, comparing the philosophical approaches of Hegel and Kant, one can notice one common feature: philosophers believed that morality comes from the internal principles of a person, and morality concerns interactions with the outside world. Based on the philosophical definitions of the concepts of morality and morality, we can conclude that with the help of morality and morality, society evaluates the behavior of an individual, evaluates the principles, desires and motives of a person.

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Morality is a system of purely conditional rules of behavior in society, based on the prevailing perception of good and evil. In a broad sense, morality is a system of coordinates that allows you to direct people’s actions in such a way that the results of their actions bring benefit to all humanity as a whole. From a psychological point of view, morality is- the deep part of the human psyche, which is responsible for assessing current events, namely for recognizing good and evil. Quite often the word “morality” is usually replaced with the word “Morality”.

What is human morality? The concept (definition) of morality in simple words - briefly.

Despite the rather simple essence of the term “morality”, there are a huge variety of its definitions. One way or another, almost all of them are correct, but perhaps the simplest answer to the question “What is morality?” there will be this statement:

Morality is a person's attempt to determine what is right and wrong regarding our actions and thoughts. What is good and bad for our existence.

If by and large everything is more or less clear with the term, then the very concept of what is moral and what is immoral causes a lot of controversy. The fact is that the concepts of evil and good are not always absolute and their assessment depends solely on the modern paradigm accepted in society.

For example, in the middle “dark” centuries, when society was poorly educated, but very religious, burning people suspected of witchcraft was a very highly moral act. It goes without saying that in the modern era of science and law, this is considered terrible stupidity and a crime, but no one has canceled historical facts. And there was slavery, holy wars, various kinds and other events that were perceived by certain parts of society as something normal. Thanks to such examples, we understood that morality and its norms are very conditional rules that can change to suit the social order.

Despite the above examples and the sad historical experience in assessing certain events, now we have, in a certain respect, a more or less adequate system of moral values.

Functions of morality and why do people need morality?

Despite many philosophical and scientific theories, the answer to this question is very simple. People need morality for further successful coexistence and development as a species. It is precisely because there are general concepts about what is good and what is bad that our society has not yet been consumed by chaos. Thus, we can say that the function of morality is to form general rules of conduct or laws, which in turn maintain order in society.

As an example of a moral principle that is understandable to absolutely everyone, we can cite the so-called Golden Rule of Morality.

The golden rule of morality says:

« Don't do to others what you don't want done to you.»

There are several interpretations of this principle, but they all convey the same essence.

Norms and examples of morality.

A huge number of aspects can be attributed to the norms and examples of morality, some of them will be highly moral absolutely everywhere, and some will be controversial, taking into account the differences in cultural characteristics. Nevertheless, as an example, we will cite precisely those moral norms that are beyond doubt.